Instead of staying within the confines of God’s Word, the Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) authors, such as Tom Horn and Cris Putnam, engage in “unleashed mystical imaginations, unrestrained surmisings, and spiritual conjectures”[17] —a result of veering sharply away from the Scripture alone. We briefly profiled their use of mysticism in Part 1, and also in an earlier article titled “Quantum Mysticism Goes to Market.” Below are some examples of their use of mystical and occult sources for their new prophecy paradigm:

...Tom Horn’s current 528-page book, Petrus Romanus: the Final Pope is Here (co-authored by Cris Putnam),... reveals “secrets” from Roman Catholic sources regarding “hidden knowledge” concerning the end times. Here is some of what the book’s website says about the book’s contents. Note that besides the “cryptic” language, the year 2012 continues to be a recurring theme:

ONE SECRET SO SERIOUS we can’t even hint at it until the book is released

REVEALED! THE SECRET FRENCH CODEX written by a Jesuit Mathematician over 60 year ago that determined his arrival in the year 2012

FOUND! THE ANCIENT MYSTERIOUS LOST BOOK that John Hogue (The Last Pope) said was gone forever…

FROM MANNING TO MALACHI—Catholic seers who warned of his coming…and died under mysterious circumstances.

THE CRYPTIC 2012 POEM: When the Pope walks over dead bodies of priests…

THE SECRET IN THE US CAPITAL [sic] AND AT THE VATICAN tied to Mesoamerican 2012 and the coming of the Dragon…[18]

Not one of the mysterious “secrets” alluded to above is found in the Bible, nor do the authors even mention God’s Word as its source. Rather, their incredible revelations are derived from “a Jesuit Mathematician,” an “ancient mysterious lost book,” “Catholic seers” (i.e., ‘false prophets’), a “cryptic 2012 poem,” “the 4th Secret of Fatima” (i.e., prophecy from an entity posing as Jesus’ mother), “uncanny (Catholic) mystics,” 2012 prophecies from the “Maya, Aztec, Zohar, Hindu, Catholic, Masonic, Rosicrucian, American Indian and many more,” and secret architectural codes and symbols hidden in “the U.S. Capitol and the Vatican.” Yet, despite these multiple unbiblical sources of spiritual information used throughout their book, Horn and Putnam affirm their devotion to the Scripture and orthodox Christianity. The result of adding pagan myths to Scripture is an unholy mixture: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14)

These men are also adding extrabiblical revelation, including Roman Catholic prophecies and visions, to their ever-evolving eschatology. Below is titillating excerpt from the back cover of Petrus Romanus that adds outside prophetic source material to the Bible's book of Revelation:

For more than 800 years Catholic and Evangelical scholars have pointed to the dark augury having to do with “the last Pope.” The prophecy, taken from St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” is among a list of verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, “Peter the Roman,” whose reign heralds the beginning of “great apostasy” followed by “great tribulation.” According to this prophecy, which was hidden away in the Vatican for hundreds of years, the next Pope (following Pope Benedict XVI) will be the false prophet who leads the world’s religious communities into embracing the political leader known as Antichrist. Unfortunately, as readers will learn, time for avoiding Peter the Roman just ran out! [bold added]

How can anyone know such details—such as the identity of the False Prophet—when the Lord Jesus Christ has not revealed these things in His Word!? The Bible gives stern warning to those who would tamper with God’s revealed endtime prophecy (Rev. 22:18-19).

Nonetheless, Horn and Putnam seized upon the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent election of Pope Francis (Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio), to sell even more copies of their Petrus Romanus,[19] a book that not only gives undo credibility to Marian apparitions, but also to a Roman Catholic mystical seer.

St. Malachy – Roman Catholic Seer (1094-1148)[20]

“SAINT” MALACHY
Who was this Roman Catholic prophet who reportedly received extrabiblical information concerning the endtimes—that inspired Horn & Putnam’s bestselling 2012 book? He was the first Irish Catholic clergyman to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church after “several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes” were attributed to his special abilities. Malachy’s “apocalyptic list” of popes, identifying the last pope of history (“Petrus Romanus” or “Peter the Roman”), became known as the Prophecy of the Popes.[21]

Non-Catholics may be unaware that, contrary to the Scripture, the Roman Catholic hierarchy exercises sole control over those permitted to be called “saints.” The road to sainthood in the Roman church is a long involved process which seldom results in canonization. Candidates for sainthood are chosen based upon a record of an outwardly pious life (works), documented miracles occurring posthumously (via the deceased candidate’s intercession from heaven), and human whim to initiate the process. Roman Catholic sainthood is only attained after physical death—sometimes hundreds of years after the candidate’s earthly departure.[22]

Pope Francis made history in April when he canonized two deceased popes—from our modern time—on the same day: John XXIII (within 50 years of his death), and John Paul II (within a decade of his death).[23]

John Paul II & John XXIII canonized together in April[24]

Once canonized, the “saint” is then venerated (“adored,” “hallowed,” “exalted”)[25] by the Roman Catholic faithful, and is believed to be interceding for the flock still on earth,[26] as well as for the souls supposedly sentenced to Purgatory. Catholics believe that Purgatory is a place of temporal punishment where one is purged of sins not paid for in this life, a teaching not found in Scripture.[27] This is a woefully futile process with no hope for the sinner in this life or the next! It is a false gospel that negates Christ’s full propitiation for man’s sin through His shed blood on the Cross (Rom. 3:25; 1 Jn. 2:2; 4:10) and gives glory and worship to the dead—adoration which belongs to God alone (Matt. 4:10; 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 19:10; 22:8). The Scripture says that repentant sinners can know in this life whether or not they belong to the Lord (1 Jn. 5:13).

The Bible teaches that believers become saints of God the moment they repent of their sin and believe the true Gospel—the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-8). Christ died in our place so that we might enter into eternal fellowship with Him. “For he hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 1-10; 2:1-2). According to the Bible a saint is a believer in Christ; one who is set apart by God, for His service. It is most noteworthy that when the word saint appears in the Bible, it is almost exclusively used in the plural (“saints”)—highlighting the emphasis on the corporate Body of Christ. The Bible does not single out individuals to “venerate,” as Roman Catholicism does, because all the glory, honor, and worship belong to Christ alone (2 Pet. 1:17-18; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 4:11).

Malachy was declared “a saint” in the Roman Catholic sense and tradition by Pope Innocent II in the 12th century. Note that his famous cryptic vision (which contributed to his canonization) “remained unknown in the Vatican Archives for 440 years after Malachy’s death”:

Attributed to St. Malachy, an Irish archbishop canonized in 1190, the Prophecy of the Popes would date to 1139. The document predicted that there would be only 112 more popes before the Last Judgment — and Benedict XVI is 111. The list of popes originated from a vision Malachy said he received from God when he was in Rome, reporting on his diocese to Pope Innocent II. The story goes that St. Malachy gave the apocalyptic list to Innocent II and that the document remained unknown in the Vatican Archives some 440 years after Malachy’s death in 1148. It was rediscovered and published by Benedictine Arnold de Wyon in 1590.[29][bold, red added]

To accept this vision requires that one believes in the validity of the popes and their office! These PPP teachers are essentially agreeing with the Catholic mystics—who believe that God later added to His Word by giving visions to St. Malachy that effectually validated the office of the pope!**

These PPP leaders, through their current books and DVDs dealing with these Roman Catholic secret mysteries, have opened the proverbial floodgates to embrace other manifestations of Roman Catholic mysticism—other purported visions and mystical prophecies not found in the pages of Scripture, and even Catholic doctrines!

MYSTICAL CATHOLIC VISIONS & DOCTRINESLike the current crop of Emergent mystics and contemplative leaders, who are finding kinship with the early Catholic mystics and visionaries, the PPP teachers are eagerly dipping their toe into the same tainted mystical waters. We explored a few of their tendencies to borrow from Catholic mysticism in an earlier article “Quantum Teleporting through Time.” The PPP leaders' aberrant teachings about quantum time travel, astral projection, out-of-body experiences, and bi-location proved to be nearly identical to what Catholics teach about similar occult phenomena. We observed:

Using a 1912 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the article explains “mystical bilocation,” or the term used by Catholic clerics “circumscriptive replication”: circumscriptive replication—that is, the idea that a physical body can remain a single entity, but somehow miraculously be relieved of its spatial relationship to other bodies, objects and/or locations, thus allowing the person to appear to witnesses in multiple locations.

The “Venerable Mary of Agreda,” a cloistered 17th century mystic nun, apparently experienced “circumscriptive replication”—dimensional translocation—or bilocation. While never setting foot outside her Spanish abbey, it is claimed she mystically bilocated to the American Southwest (between 1620-1631) in order to spread the teachings of Roman Catholicism, appearing as a “Lady in Blue.” (Note: “The Lady in Blue,” was given national attention in 2004, during the production of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, because Gibson used the nun’s mystical writings on the life of the Catholic Mary to write his screenplay.)[30]

These mystical occult experiences and visions are not only unholy, but they are seductively deceptive. Those entertaining the labyrinthine teachings of such dark phenomena do so at their own peril. There should be grave concern about where these foreign ideas might end up as they are smuggled into the church in the guise of new insights into eschatology. Like leaven, this arcane knowledge is spreading rapidly throughout the church world today. Endtime prophetic mysticism is just one more entry point where Catholicism is affecting evangelical doctrine.

Besides the overt occult manifestations that often accompany the pursuit of such mystics and visionaries, is the perilous pathway—leading far away from the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving Gospel—that many will find themselves traveling. Note the doctrine that a Catholic website favorably teaches concerning “Mystics and Visionaries”:

Mystics and Visionaries as specially chosen souls have a variety of missions within the [Roman Catholic] Church such as:

they inspire devotions like the Sacred Heart [Marian devotions] and Divine Mercy devotions;

through their lives as victim souls they make reparation to God for the conversion of sinners, and remind us to make sacrifices and do penance;

they enlighten us concerning the evils of the world and reveal to us the horrors of sin.

through their sufferings willingly accepted and offered to God, they remind us of our call to participate in the redemption of all of humanity through the offering of our own sacrifices, and through our sufferings willingly accepted.[31][bold, red added]

The faulty idea that man can participate in eternal salvation through his own acts is a false gospel. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died on the Cross—once—for the redemption of mankind (Heb. 10:10, 14). Christ is the only door to salvation (Jn. 10:7-9; Jn. 14:6). His sacrifice on behalf of sinners was both propitiatory and sufficient. God’s Word is enough. No mystic or visionary can “enlighten us” or “reveal the horrors of sin” like the Holy Spirit does—through God’s written Word. The following two verses from Scripture are very important to refute the Catholic doctrine that is coming into the evangelical church world:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,the just for the unjust,that He might bring us to God,being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit”(1 Pet. 3:18)

“For then must He [Christ] often have sufferedsince the foundation of the world:but now once in the end of the world hath He appearedto put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second timewithout sin unto salvation”(Heb. 9:26-28).

In light of all the things presented here, why then do these PPP authors mix the error of Roman Catholic mysticism with the infallible Word of God? Where will this unholy mixture ultimately lead? Will history repeat itself? There is. after all, a treacherous history of the Roman Church against true believers holding to Sola Scriptura.

It should be noted that not everyone believes St. Malachy’s mystical beliefs and extra-biblical apocalyptic visions. First, and pertinent to this discussion, is the unsavory historical fact that Pope Innocent II, the Pontiff who canonized Malachy, was a dominionist temporal ruler who defeated Anacletus II for the papal title through political maneuvering and force.[32] Both men were elected to the pontifical office by rival factions during the same period of time. Innocent II also used his church position to coerce earthly kings into submitting to his authority—ungodly actions that are diametrically opposed to God’s Word (1 Pet. 5:1-4).[33]

Second, the prophecies of St. Malachy have secular critics as well. From the webpage "Prophecy of Popes" we learn the following scholarly objections:

A "Prophecy of the Popes" is attributed to St. Malachy, which is claimed to predict that there would be only 112 more popes before the Last Judgment. The Prophesy was discovered and published by Benedictine Arnold de Wyon in 1590. Most scholars consider the document a 16th-century elaborate hoax. James Weiss, a professor of church history at Boston College has stated "It is widely thought ... given who the author was and his relationship, [that the prophecies] were published to establish the case for election of one particular cardinal." Dr. Thomas Groome, chair of the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College, has a similar notion: "For myself – and even as a native Irishman – the 'Prophecies of St. Malachy' are a grand old fun tale that have about as much reliability as the morning horoscope". Thomas J. Reese, SJ, of Georgetown University, had only this to say: "St. Malachy's prophecy is nonsense."[endnotes removed]

The Truth about TraditionNoted discernment researcher, the late Ed Tarkowski, writing about the Lady of Fatima and Marian apparitions, delved into the history of the Catholic Church. Roman Catholics have adopted an equation that Scripture plus tradition equals truth. It looks like this:

Scripture + Tradition = Truth

This equation is precisely the formula these PPP teachers are utilizing. They are claiming that the traditions and visions of St. Malachy plus Scripture equals new revelations about endtime eschatology. Ed Tarkowski specifically warned against using this equation:

In discernment of spiritual matters, particularly those involving supernatural phenomena, great care must be taken that the standard for discernment is pure. If the standard is even slightly adulterated, resulting judgments are bound to be affected....

Judgment or discernment based on Scripture, the written, unchanging word of God, has a verifiable, truthful, strong foundation. Using the standard of Scripture alone, spiritual experiences, including apparitions, messages, and changes in conduct or lives, can be discerned by any number of Christians, in any place, in any century, with the same results. The circumstances of time and culture have little or no effect on the judgment. Discernment by Scripture plus tradition, however, may not always result in the same judgment. The Documents of Vatican II inform us that there is a development of tradition...***

But in discernment of spiritual experience, using Scripture plus tradition as the standard for judgment adulterates the purity of that verifiable, truthful and strong foundation of Scripture alone.[bold added]

*This prophecy (in Latin) was recorded in a Catholic e-newsletter, The Moynihan Letters, Feb. 18, 2013, which translated it into English: "Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the fearsome Judge will judge His people. The End."**The office of Pope was refuted during the Reformation. Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries (which has recently published many articles exposing the current evangelical trend back towards Rome) has helpfully provided us with the following pieces of documentation: 1) A Lutheran Confession from 1537 during the Council of Trent: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/concord/web/smc-pope.html"In the first place, therefore, let us show from the [holy] Gospel that the Roman bishop is not by divine right above [cannot arrogate to himself any supremacy whatever over] other bishops and pastors."Luke 22, 25. Christ expressly prohibits lordship among the apostles [that no apostle should have any supremacy over the rest]. For this was the very question, namely, that when Christ spake of His passion, they were disputing who should be at the head, and as it were the vicar of the absent Christ. There Christ reproves this error of the apostles and teaches that there shall not be lordship or superiority among them, but that the apostles should be sent forth as equals to the common ministry of the Gospel. Accordingly, He says: The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. The antithesis here shows [By holding these matters against one another one sees] that lordship [among the apostles] is disapproved."2) What Martin Luther said: http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1535luther.asp"If the pope were the head of the Christian Church, then the Church were a monster with two heads, seeing that St. Paul says that Christ is her head. The pope may well be, and is, the head of the false Church." ***Ed Tarkowski, at this point in this article (Section 4), in his series on Fatima, cited the THE DOCUMENTS OF VATICAN II: All Sixteen Official Texts Promulgated by the Ecumenical Council 1963-1965, Translated From the Latin, gen. ed., Walter M. Abbot, S.J., trans. ed., Very Rev, Msgr. Joseph Gallagher (American Press, Association Press), Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation," specifically Art. 8, p. 116. Read here: http://www.velocity.net/~edju70/fat4.htm

See the bottom of Part 1 for a listing of prior articles in this ongoing series.

About Me

Check your daily "HERESCOPE." Herescope is an online journal revealing heresies and false teachings affecting the church today. Copyright 2005-2017 held by the author, IRG, Inc., or Discernment Ministries, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Herescope is a term coined by Lynn Leslie literally meaning "scoping out a heresy." Herescope began as a regular magazine column in The Christian Conscience magazine published during 1995-1998 by IRG, Inc. The Discernment Research Group is an ad hoc fellowship of Christian researchers with roots dating back to 1985. For more articles, books, and newsletters go to http://www.discernment-ministries.org.